July 29, 1987: Light at the end of the Chunnel

Michael Binyon on the day UK’s umbilical cord to Europe was approved

The World Today
2 minute READ

It is 30 years since Parliament gave final approval to the Channel Tunnel Bill. At the time, the undertaking still seemed almost unfeasible. Today, a generation later, people think nothing of putting their car on a shuttle train − the busiest such operation in the world − and gliding off on holiday some 380 feet below the waves through the longest sea tunnel ever built, or catching a Eurostar train for a quick meeting in Paris, now a mere 2 hours 15 minutes away.

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